Even if there is still a wicked lot of snow on the ground all through the month of March we’ve decided spring is in the air. On Fridays this month the Wickeds are celebrating spring by talking spring cleaning, for the home for the body and for the mind.
Jessie: I’ve returned to wearing a watch. I had started using my cellphone to check the time but then I inevitably ended up with the urge to check my email. Often that quick peek would derail me for longer than I had intended. Using my watch helps me to manage my time in more ways than one.
Liz: A watch? Ha! I have a few of those, but the batteries are all dead. I’m hopeless. I use my phone, which does lead me down the email path. So maybe I should invest in watch batteries. My sanity saver is Workflowy – the simple, online list tool. It’s nothing fancy, just allows you categorize and subcategorize all your to-dos, as well as prioritize them and check them off. It’s awesome for list lovers, which I am, and saves you the hassle of having to rewrite lists every five minutes when things change.
Edith: I try to stay sane by taking breaks and turning off the internet. All morning I do hour writing sprints with the internet off. I always go for an hour of exercise by late morning, and then eat lunch reading the local paper. At the end of the afternoon I start dinner, read the Boston Globe, and eat by candlelight with Hugh. Even if the rest of my hours are filled with internet, these respites restore my sanity.
Sherry: I’m not sure there is much hope for my sanity. I worked for a financial planning company once upon a time. My boss always said to handle each piece of paper once. While I’m not perfect at it, I do keep a wastebasket, bag for shredding and bag for recycling all within easy reach of my desk. As I open mail I can dispense with a lot of paper. I also have essential files in the drawer of my desk so I file most things as I open them. But somehow I usually end up with a stack on the left side of my desk.
Julie: First of all, wearing one fewer layer would do my spring sanity a world of good. Long johns the last week of March? Really? Yeesh. Some of my spring sanity methods need a little more warmth. They include wearing sneakers as much as possible. If I have two T stops or fewer, walking instead of jumping on a T or bus. Washing my long down coat and putting it away. Same for the big hats and thick gloves. Opening windows during the day. Wearing colors (rather than gray or black). Again, we need to hit 50 for a couple of days to make it so. A girl can dream, and purposely not recall the 1997 April 1 blizzard.
Barb: Sanity? You mean I was supposed to save it? Oh my gosh! I have to go do something….
Readers, do you have any tricks for making life more enjoyable to share?
I need to spend a little time talking with people I care about and who care about me. I try to make a dedicated time, when we devote that tiny space to each other and not to watching TV, listening to music, shopping, looking at the sky, eating supper, or anything else but talking with each other. We might have a cup of coffee or tea, just something simple and not distracting. The time it takes to have a cup of tea and give your attention to another person is a very short time, but it allows something good to happen. It makes space. It recognizes the importance of that little bit of time and focuses it into a fullness of relationship.
I love that thought, Reine! Connecting with loved ones is really the very best way of all to be happy.
Love that term “Workflowy”! I make lists–the problem is checking anything off the list, unless I fudge and add things like “get out of bed.” But my sister is coming for a week-long visit in April, and she hasn’t seen this place in at least five years (and I’ll bet some of the dirt under the furniture is at least that old), so a massive “sweep” is called for. And I have a to plant my new apple tree this week (it’s now sitting on the porch in a cardboard box)–will that convince me it’s spring?
I am utterly consumed by envy when I read you might thawed out enough to plant a tree. If I could find my yard under all the snow we still have I would surely snap my spade trying to work it into the frozen ground!
You have me wondering if apple trees will grow in Tucson.
I’m sure I had my sanity around here somewhere….
LOL. It’ll turn up where you least expect it, Mark. Maybe even under the couch!